Ravens Season Preview and Predictions, Vick’s Advice For Rice
By Brett Foote
Aug 7, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice (27) high fives fans after beating the San Francisco 49ers 23-3 at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to lunchtime links, where we round up all the latest Ravens news from around the web for your convenient consumption. Today we have a Ravens season preview and predictions for 2014, Michael Vick’s advice for Ray Rice, why the Ravens are all set at free safety, and a progress report for all the rookies.
Michael Vick has had his own run in with the law and the NFL disciplinary process, and now he has some advice for Ray Rice: “make amends for what you have done.” Vick, as you most likely already know, spent two years in prison for his involvement in a dog fighting ring. “I think you have to show people that you’re trying to help yourself and bring awareness to that situation to help others, to prevent it. You’ve got to become an advocate, Vick said.” We personally hope that Rice will do just that, and turn his negative situation into a positive one long term.
Rookie safety Terrence Brooks has been mixing in with the first team defense as of late, partly because of the all the injuries in the secondary. The third round draft selection has spent time at free safety and nickelback, splitting time with (for now) starter Darian Stewart. This move is not surprising, as Brooks has the true center field ability that the Raven’s defense sorely lacks, as we have pointed out before.
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While cornerback is still a pretty unsettled position, John Harbaugh feels like the Ravens are set at free safety with Brooks and Stewart, plus the team has uber talented Will Hill waiting in the wings. “Jeromy Miles played very well; Brynden Trawick (has) really done well,” Harbaugh said following Monday’s practice. “Terrence Brooks is coming on; Anthony Levine is swinging corner and safety doing a real good job. Omar Brown makes plays out here again today. He’s a ball hawk. So we’re pretty deep at safety. We’re happy with that group.” It’s definitely one of the deepest positions on the team and ripe with talent.
Bleacher Report has put up a video outlining their Ravens season preview and predictions for 2014. We won’t spoil it for you but suffice it to say that they have some pretty high expectations for the team. We agree and feel like this is easily a playoff team that can contend for a Super Bowl. One interesting thing is that they point out the excessive Flacco hate. The QB does catch too much flak and we can’t wait to see him prove all the haters wrong this season.
B/R is also catching up with all the Ravens rookies and checking in on their progress. C.J. Mosley hasn’t done anything to dispel the hype that surrounds him, but Timmy Jernigan’s emergence has been slowed by his back injury. Jernigan has already worked his way into the defensive line rotation and we expect him to have a big impact this season if he can stay healthy.